Antiaircraft gun



April 7, 1.942- P. J. BOHA-N ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN Filed Oct. 10, 1939 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 By Wm A flomeys April 7, 1942. P. J. BOHAN 2,279,087

ANTI-AIRCRAFT'GUN Filed Oct. 10, 1939 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor 2222a Jakan @Mwbn.

M and Attorneys April 94 P. J. BOHAN 2,279,087

ANTLAIRCRAFTGUN Filed Oct. 10, 1939 '7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor Pafrz'cl J Bake April 7, 1942. P. J. BOHAN ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN Filed Oct. 10, 1939 '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 A rn 1942 R J, BOHAN 2,279,037

ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN Filed Oct. 10, 1939 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 April 7, 1942. P. J. BOHAN ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN Filed Oct. 10, 1939 7 Sheets-Sheet '7 Inventor fi vfc J aka'b Attorneys Patented Apr. 7, 1942 am'rmmoaerr GUN Patrick J. Bohan, Sailor Springs, 1111., assignor of one-fourth to Glenn R. Easley, ()lay (City, and one-fourth to R. L. Koyner, Sailor Springs, Ill.

Application October 10, 1939, Serial No. 298,863

4 Claims.

barrels sojthat a plurality of projectiles can be thrown at aircraft thus making it easy for a gunner to easily strike an aircraft for even if some of the projectiles miss others are likely to hit the aircraft.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for rendering it diflicult for one not familiar with the gun for operating it so that if the gun falls into the hands of an enemy the enemy will have difliculty in using the gun against the former users of the gun.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for locking the breech and the breech housing when the parts are in firing position with means for simultaneously ejecting the empty shells as the breech is moved rearwardly, this movement also setting the firing mechanism.

This inventionalso consists in certain other features of construction and in thecombination and arrangement of the several parts to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which Figure l is a side elevationalview of the improved gun.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the rear portion thereof.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig Figure 9 is a detailed longitudinal sectional view showing an ejector hook and the associated parts.

Figure 10 is a detailed longitudinal sectional view showing parts of the extractor mechanism with the lever for controlling the same.

Figure 11 is a section on the line i|il of Figure 1.

Figure 12 is a fragmentary top plan view with parts broken away of the breech housing and showing in plan and section the hammer or firing mechanism.

Figure 13 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view through the rear part of the gun showing the hammer mechanism and'the parts associated therewith.

Figure 14 is a view of the latch member for holding the hammer member in set position.

Figure 15 is an edge view of the latch member and showing its spring and showing in dotted lines how the trigger plunger engages the same. Figure 16 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing the hammer mechanism.

Figure 17 is a view of the yoke member forming part of the extractor mechanism.

Figure 18-is a view of an extractor hook.

Figure 19 is a face view of the disk which carries the extractor hooks.

Figure. 20 is a view of the lever which resets the hammer mechanism.

Figure 21 is a view of the block member actuated by the lever for controlling the ejector mechanism.

Figure 22 is a view of the plunger which is engaged by said block-like member.

Figure 23 is a view of the firing pins.

Figure 24 is a view of the control lever which is connected with the block-like member.

Figure 25 is a view partly in section showing the resetting lever and its supporting member.

Figure 26 is a detail sectional view on the line 26-26 of Figure 10.

Figure 2'? is a view showing a modified form of the means for pushing the ejector carrying disk forwardly.

Referring to Figure 1 the numeral i indicates a stationary base for the gun which, of course, may be mounted on a stationary foundation or on a vehicle so that the gun can be transported from place to place or it may be mounted on a ship. This base is formed with a vertically arranged tubular part 2 which receives the shank (not shown) of an upright 3. This upright .3 can beturned on thebase l by means of the gear mechanism shown generally at 4 and which is turned by a hand wheel 5. The gun is shown generally at G and has a toothed segment 6 depending therefrom and this segment is pivoted to the upper end of the upright 3 as shown at l and a gear 8 meshes with the teeth of the segment 6 and the shaft 9 of this gear is turned forming continuation of the bores of the barrels for receiving the shells S as shown in Figure 3. In rear of this member 52 the lower part or the housing I I is formed with an opening is through which the ejected shells drop and said housing adjacent its rear end is formed with an L-shaped slot 15, the arm 55 of which extends longitudinally and the second arm extends transversely. While the drawings show this slot in the upper part of the housing it is to be under-,

ranged in the housing and a handle 97 is connected with this breech and passes through the slot lb. The housing intermediate its ends is formed with the mutilated threads or ribs 68, see Figure 8, and the breech member is formed with similar threads or ribs 89 on its exterior circum ference and these ribs are so formed that when the handle H7 is in the position shown in Figure 2 the ribs or threads it and it will interengage and thus lock the breech member in its forward position as shown in Figure 3. However, when the handle it is turned to the junction of the two arms of the slot then the ribs l3 and 03 are out of engagement and then the breech member can be moved rearwardly by moving the handle ll rearwardly through the arm lb of the slot. The breech member it is formed with the longitudinally extending grooves i6, providing spaces for the teeth it of the housing ii, so that the breech member can be moved longitudinally after its teeth is are moved out of engagement with the teeth 58 of the housing by a partial rotary movement of the breech member.

In order to prevent turning movement of the breech member as it is being moved rearwardly I provide a rib Ed in the housing at the rear at stood that it can be placed wherever desired. A cylindrical breech member it is slidably ar-p amaos'r cross piece 3| to strike the rear end of the rod and thus move the rod and the firing pins at its upper end has a lip forming projection 34 thereon which is beveled as shown in Figures 14 and 15 and this projection is adapted to be engaged by a similar projection 35 on one of the disks 29, when the disks are moved forwardly or in a clockwise direction. Thus as the disk assembly is moved forwardly in a clockwise direc-.

tion the projection 35 will first engage the projection 34 on lever 33 and then move the lever thereof which enters a groove 2! in the rear of the breech member as the same slides rearwardly. The front end of the breech member is closed by a c1osure member '32 and this member is provided with a plurality of holes, one for each barrel, for the passage of the firing pins 23, said pins being attached to a disk 25 attached to the'front end of a rod 23 which is supported for sliding movement in the spiders 26 carried by the breech member. A spring 21 encircles a part of the rod 25 and has one end bearing againstone of the spiders and its other end bearing against a collar 28 fastened to the rod, this spring tending to move the parts in a direction to move the pins out of firing position.

The hammer mechanism includes a pair of disk-like members 29 mounted on a shaft 39 which extends across the upper portion of the breech member adjacent the rear thereof and these disks are connected together by a cross piece 39 which has its ends engaging shoulder forming projections on the disks and one end of a spring 32 is fastened to the cross piece and its other end to the shaft as shown more particularly in Figure 16, the parts being so arranged that the spring tends to move the disk assembly outwardly against the action of its spring 33 so that. the projection 35'will pass by the projection 34' and then the two projections will interlock and the hammer mechanism is held in set position as shown in Figure 16. The hammer mechanism is moved to the position shown in Figure 16 by a bar-like member 3'! supportedior limited rocking movement on a forwardly extending bracket 38 attached to the rear end of the hous ing H as'shown in Figure 13. Thus as the breech member is moved rearwardly a pin 33 on the disk assembly will strike the forward end of this member 31 which causes the hammer mechanism to rotate against the action of the spring 32 until the projection 35 interlocks the projection 34 on the lever 33 and then the parts are in the set position shown in Figure 16. This member 3! is pivoted to the forward end of the bracket 38 as shown at QB in Figures 3 and 25. The

member 31 is limited in its up and down movement by the shoulders 4i formed on its pivoted end which engage a pin 42 carried by the member 38. The forward end of this member 37? is beveled as at i3so that after it has moved the hammer mechanism to setting position by engagement with the pin 39 it will ride of? the pin and then when the breech member is returned to forward position the member 31 will simply ride over the pin without having any effect on the hammer mechanism. The trigger means for releasing the hammer mechanism includes a rod M having a finger piece 45 at its outer end with the rod passing through a bracket 68 in the breech member 58 and the rod being so supported that when pressed upon its inner end will engage the upper end of the lever 33 moving the same outwardly against the action of the spring 36 and releasing the lip projection 3d from the projection 35 so that the spring 32 of the hammer mechanism can turn the same in an anti-clockwise direction and thus cause the member 3i to strike the rod 25 with sumcient force to cause the firing pins to strike the cartridges and explode the same. A spring 37 normally holds the trigger rod 35 in an outward position.

A slot 43 of substantially L-shape in the housing H permits rotary and sliding movement of the breech member in the housing without interference from the trigger rod M. y.

A disk 69 is siidably arranged on the firing pins 23 and has holes therein through which the pins pass and springs 5t encircle said pins and tend to press thedisk 43 awayfrom the front end member 22 of the breech member and said disk 49 has pivoted thereto a plurality of exin a counter-clockwise direction to cause the A latch cartridges or shells S, as shown more particularly in Figures 3, 7 and 9, the front face of the member 22 having small recesses therein for receiving the heads or flanged ends of the shells orcartridges and the rear face of the closure member 62 for the front end of the housing is formed with the notches 54 for receiving the front ends of the extractor hooks when the same are in projected position as shown in Figure 9. plungers' 55 are carried by the member 22 and engage the extractor hooks and act to hold them in ejecting position or with their beaks in engagement with portions of the flanges of the shells or cartridges, the holes 52 being large enough to permit lateral or swinging movement of the extractor hooks as shown in Figure 9.

The springs ifl tend to hold the disk 49 in a position with the extractor hooks out of the notches 64 and therefore out of engagement with the flanged ends of the shells.

The extractor hooks 6! are pivoted to the disk or plate 49 by means of the pairs of ears 49 on the disk or plate as shown in Figure 19 and the holes in this plate 49 through which the firing pins 23 pass are shown at 23' in Figure 19.

A yoke 60 is pivoted to a bracket 6| in the front end of the breech member l6 and the limbs of the yoke are bent at right angles as shown at 60?, see Figure 17, for engagement with the plate or disk 69 and the shank of the yoke extends into an internal notch 62 formed in the breech member and a plunger 63 operates in an opening or small bores in the breech member which opening opens out into the notch and the spring 64 of the plunger bears against the end of the shank of the yoke as shown in Figure 3.

The plunger 63 is shown in detail in Figure 22 and is 'formed with a body part and a shank part, the shank part receiving the spring 64 and the front end .of the body part is formed with a bevel 63'. The front end of the plunger 63 ex: tends into an elongated circumferentially extending groove 65 formed in the front end of the breech member or the end part 22 thereof, this groove being of arcuate shape and an elongated longitudinally extending notch 66 in the member l2 of thebreech housing has its rear end in communication with this groove. This notch 66 receives a block-like member 61 shown in detail in Figure 21 and normally pressed outwardly by the leaf spring 68 and said member 61 is provided with a substantially circular recess 69 therein for receiving the rounded end 10 of a lever If, see Figure 24. A second block 12 removably fits in an opening 13 formed in the top part of the front end of the housing H and this opening I3 is placed over the recess 66 in the part l2,and as shown in Figure 26 this opening 13 is wider than the opening 66 so that the block 12 can rest on portions of the member l2. This block 62 is removably held in the opening 13 by the strap-like member 73 which is detachably connected with the housing II by screws or in any other suitable manner. The block 72 has an opening 12' therein which tapers from its center downwardly and upwardly as shown and the lever H passes through this opening 12' and is pivoted therein by a pin #4 as shown more clearly in Figure 10. By removing this member 13 the block it and the block 61 can be removed from the gun and, of course, as these blocks are removed the lever H is also removed.

The rear end of the block 67 is formed with an enlargement or nose 15 which has a part projecting above the top face of said block so that Spring when the lever TI is moved rearwardly the rounded end of the lever will move the block 61 downwardly and then forwardly to placethis nose 16 under a portion of the block 12 and then the parts will be in the position shown in Figure 10.

By moving the lever H forwardly it will move the block 61 rearwardly so that the nose IE will enter the groove 65 of the front end 22 of the breech, member and also an internal recess 76 in the housing II which opens out into the groove 65.

When the lever H is moved forwardly, as shown in Figure 3, the lock 61 will be moved rearwardly so that its nose 15 will project into the groove 65 at the front end of the breech member and also into the internal recess 16. Then when the breech member is given a partly turning motion by moving the handle I! from the position shown in Figure 2 to that shown in Figure 3 where said handle I! is at theforward end of the longitudinally extending part or arm l5 of the slot l5, this movement of the breech member will cause the beveled end 63' of the plunger 63 toengage the nose 15 of the block 61 so that the plunger is moved rearwardly so that its rear end will engage the-shank of the yoke 60 so as to cause the yoke to press forwardly the plate 49 against the action of the' springs 50 and-this forward movement of the plate 69 will move the extractors forwardly into the .notches 54 in the rear face of the part l2 so that the beaks of the extractors can engage the rims of the cartridges or shells. Then when the lever IT is moved rearwardly to retract the breech member the shells are pulled from the barrels and thrown through the opening l4.

When the lever H is moved rearwardly the block 61 is first moved downwardly so as to disl engage its nose I5 from the rear end of block 12 sition and this causes the member 31 to move the hammer mechanism 29 into locking position or in reset or cocked position. It also uncovers the opening It so that shells can be placed in the rear ends of the barrels l3. Either before the breech member is moved rearwardly or before the breech member is moved forwardly the lever H is moved rearwardly so as to move the block 61 out of engagement with the plunger 63 and then the breech member is moved for wardly by moving the handle I! forwardly through the part l5 of the slot and then to the lei t through the part I5" of the slot. This closes the breech member against the rear face of the part I2 of the housing and also presses the member 22 against the rear ends of the cartridges in the barrels and also locks the threads (9 of the breech member with the threads I 8 of the housing to prevent longitudinal movement of the breech member. Then the lever H is moved forwardly so as to cause the block 61 to have its nose 15 enter the groove 65 at that end remote from the end occupied by plunger 63. Then the gun is fired by pressure upon the trigger members M and 45 which releases the catch member 33 from the hammer mechanism thus ermitting the spring of the hammer mechanism to rotate the same in anti-clockwise direction so that the hammer mechanism throws the firing pins forwardly against the cartridges and thus the cartridges are fired. Then the handle ii is moved to the right through the part 55" of the slot and when it reaches the beginning of the part it of the slot the beveled end of plunger 83 will engage the nose E or block 5? so that the plunger will be moved rearwardly, thus applying pressure to the shank of the yoke at which will move the limbs of the yoke against the plate it to cause the plate to project the ejectors into the notches or slots 56 and the Plungers 55 will cause the beaks of the electors to engage the rims of the cartridges so that when the breech member is moved rearwardly by movement of the handle ll rearwardly through the part it of the slot i5, the cartridges will be extracted from the barrels and thrown through the opening it.

aaraoer barrels and the empty cartridges extracted therefrom, a cylindrical breech member slidably arranged in the housing, mutilated interlocking threads carried by the housing and the breech member, said housing having an L-shaped slot therein, a handle member connected with the breech member and passing through the slot for As before stated rearward movement of the can be made as shown at Bil in Figure 2P7 with its shank provided with a tooth quadrant M for engaging the rack bar 82 which is slidably arranged in a groove in the breech member and engaged by a spring 6 5 when the plunger 63 is pressed rearwardly by the block 61. In this case the pressure of the spring 64' will move the rack bar 82 which, in turn, causes the yoke member 80 to press upon the extractor carrying plate 9 to move the same forwardly to place the extractors in engagement with the cartridges, as before explained.

As will be seen the block Bl must be moved rearwardly before the extractor means will operate to eject the cartridges and thus one must be familiar with this use of the lever H before he can operate the gun. Also, by removing the blocks 63 and ti with the lever it will be impossible for one to use the gun so that if a soldier has to leave the gun during a retreat he can, by removing these blocks, make I it impossible, or practically so, for the enemy to use the gun. Thus these blocks with the lever act as safety means and prevent the use of the gun unless the blocks are in place.

A substantially L-shaped recess 31' is formed in the rear end of the internal part of the breech member so that the breech member can be moved without interference from the part of the bracket 33 and the member 3?.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of the.

' housing, a plurality of barrels having their rear ends connected with the front end of the housing and said housing having an opening therein for permitting cartridges to be placed in the moving the breech member in a partial rotary movement and in a longitudinal movement, the partial rotary movement moving the threads of the breech member into and out of engagement with the threads of the housing, a plate, a plurality of firing pins carried by the plate for firing the cartridges, a rod connected with the plate slidably supported in the breech member, a rotary hammer mechanism spring actuated for moving the rod forwardly to cause the pins carried by the plate to fire the cartridges, means for moving the hammer mechanism into cocking position when the breech member is moved rearwarclly, a trigger member for releasing the hammer mechanism, a plate, extractor hooks carried by the plate for engaging rims of the cartridges for ejecting the cartridges after they are fired, said extractor carrying plate being movably arranged on the firing pins, a yoke engaging the ejector plate, a spring plunger for placing the yoke under pressure when the plunger is moved rearwardly, a manually operated member carried by the housing for moving the plunger to apply pressure to the yoke when said member is in one position and said member releasing the pressure when in another position, said member when in' pressure applying position engaging the plunger when the breech member has been partly rotated to release its threads from the threads of the housing.

2. A gun of the class described comprising a mount, a member supported therein for move- 'ment about a vertical axis, a gun including a in the rear ends of the barrels, said housing having an L-shaped slot therein, a breech member of cylindrical form slidably and rotatably arranged in the housing, a handle connected with the breech member and passing through the slot, a rib and groove formation carried by the housing and breech member for preventing rotary movement of the breech member when the same is being moved longitudinally, means for locking the breech member against longitudinal movement when the handle member has moved the breech member into the end of the lateral aura of the slot, firing mechanism carried by the breech member including a hammer mechanism, a trigger member for releasing the hammer mechanism, means for cooking the hammer mechanism when the breech member is moved rearwardly and combined safety mechanism and extractor mechanism including a hand lever extending from the housing, said means including a plate, extractor hooks carried by the plate, a yoke pivoted in the breech member and engaging the plate, a spring plunger for exerting pressure on the yoke which in turn exerts pressure on the plate, a block-like member movably arranged in the front end of the housing, a lever passing through a slot in the housing for moving the block-like member and the front end of the breech member having an arcuate groove therein into which the front end of the plunger projects and the rear end of the block-like member en-v gaging the plunger when said block-like member has been moved rearwardly by the lever and the breech member has been moved to a. position where the interlocking means are disengaged and the breech member is in a position to be moved rearwardly.

3. In a gun or the class described, a housing, a plurality of barrels connected with one end of the housing, a breech member slidably and rotatably arranged in the housing, a handle for moving the breech member in a partial rotary movement and a longitudinal movement, means for locking.

the housing for actuating the plunger, a lever for moving said lever operated member into operative and inoperative position.

4. In a gun of the class described, a housing, a plurality of barrels connected with one end of the housing, a breech member slidably and rotatably arranged in the housing, a. handle for moving the breech member in a partial rotary movement and a longitudinal movement, means for locking the breech member to the housing when the breech member is in a forward position and rotated in one direction, firing mechanism carried by the breech member, hammer mechanism carried by the breech member, means for cocking the hammer mechanism when the breech member is movedrearwardly, manually operated means for releasing the hammer mechanism, extractor mechanism, spring means for normally holding said extractor mechanism in inoperative position, means including a plunger for moving the extractor mechanism into operative position, a lever operated member removably supported by the housing for actuating the plunger, a lever for moving said lever operated member into operative and inoperative position, and means for preventing operation of the extractor mechanism by the lever operated member until the breech has been rotated to a position where the breech is ready to be moved rearwardly.

PATRICK J. BOHAN. 

